The streets of Edo were crowded with a variety of people, idly going on with their everyday routines. Clusters of friends were clumped up about the sidewalks, and storefronts opened right onto the curb, welcoming customers in with cheery banners and bright neon signs. As throngs of passerby, both human and less so, carried on with their usual activities, a young vermillion-haired woman navigated through the crowded streets. Her unusually pale skin suggested she belonged to a race not of this earth, and the bright purple parasol she had slung over a shoulder, shadowing her body from the piercing rays of the sun, only furthered the impression that she was, in fact, not a human at all – but a member of the Yato, a feared race with a fighting prowess that sowed fear into many.
The young woman – a beautiful nineteen-year-old maiden by the name of Kagura – meandered throughout the clusters of chatting people crowding the walkway, her cerulean orbs set straight ahead to prevent herself from accidentally walking into a signpost or jostling less hospitable Amanto. All the while, however, she was acutely aware of the thick wad of cash she was currently holding in a hand – the over-the-top payment given to her by a rich couple whose given task she had successfully fulfilled. She grinned broadly at the cash, proud of herself – these days, her 'Odd Jobs' career hadn't exactly spurred many customers, so a day in which such payment was endowed was definitely reason to celebrate.
"Now I can buy myself a bunch of sukonbu, yes?" Kagura murmured happily to herself, smiling wistfully at the thought of purchasing the ridiculously sour snack she had always favored. She could already imagine herself chewing upon the treat, and her grin doubled in size at the notion. Slipping the thick stack of money into her back pocket, she turned her attention back onto the road, the heels of her boots thumping against the road.
She was so busy envisioning herself feasting on packets upon packets of the stuff she didn't notice the child – whom was walking in the opposite direction – until they collided. The boy barely reached past her waist, so there was really no real danger of getting hurt, but walking right into another person, despite the severe height difference, did cause her to lose her footing slightly. Luckily, she managed to catch herself before her feet slipped from right under her, saving herself the embarrassment of being sprawled out across the ground in the middle of public. The child, however, was not as lucky – after bumping into her and flailing backwards, his feet had then proceeded to be snagged by a crack in the curb, causing him to lose all sense of balance completely and fall, butt smashing into the sidewalk.
"Ow!" the boy gave a yelp, proceeding to massage the bruise the curb had inflicted on his person. Kagura gazed down at the boy, somewhat mortified by her accidental actions, and fumbled to apologize as she helped him to his feet. Despite having been jostled to the ground unbecomingly, the boy didn't seem to be hurt, and Kagura let out an inwardly sigh of relief. He himself didn't seem too cross about the whole scenario, and graciously accepted her stammered out apologies before resuming his leisurely walk. Kagura watched the child as he vanished into the crowds of people clumped up by the shops, his silver hair a somewhat oddity amongst the throng of ordinarily dressed and characterized people. Running slender fingers through her waist-length vermillion-red hair, Kagura shrugged off the embarrassing experience and continued on her way to the sukonbu store to purchase some well deserved sour treats.
At which she realized that the stack of cash, which she had shoved down her pocket simply moments prior, had mysteriously vanished.
oooOOOooo
In a world were once admirable samurais had lost surrendered their sword with choked pride, governed by beings not of this earth that never truly took kindly to those of the human race, even young children were forced to fend for themselves in various endeavors that were sometimes legal and mostly less so. Sakata Gintoki, a child that barely surpassed the age of ten, was of course no exclusion to this rule – and the fact that the foodstuffs he mostly clamored for were those that fell into the category of 'sugar' and 'sweets'. For a child that made a living on thieving from strangers' pockets, his food preference was…expensive, to say the least.
But it seemed that lady luck had decided to shower her magic upon him, for he had managed to swipe quite a decent amount of cash from an unsuspecting passerby he had intentionally bumped into. Owing to his over-extravagant display of fake-falling, the parasol-carrying woman hadn't noticed at all when he had slipped the huge wad of cash from her pocket, nor did she realize when he had seamlessly tucked it into his own. Sure, she would undoubtedly realize sooner or later that she had been deceived, but he was sure that by then he would be far away, lost in the clamor of people clustered throughout the district of Kabukicho.
But he soon realized his error of underestimation when a frustrated shout of pure rage cut into his musings like a knife.
"OIIIIIII, you brat!"
Gintoki whirled around in startled shock, locking eyes with a pair of cerulean irises he had seen once before. They had narrowed upon him, and the woman he had stolen off of gave chase as soon as he begun sprinting in the opposite direction. His heart leapt into his throat as his pace quickened, and he was acutely aware of her captor's boots thrumming across the asphalt ground with a swiftness that significantly closed the distance between them. The current scenario incited adrenalin to pump into his veins, and his hasty footsteps doubled in speed as the vermillion haired woman darted closer and closer to his location.
"Give me back my sukonbu money, you bastaaaaard!" Kagura snarled, whipping up her steel-tipped umbrella to give the silver-haired rascal a well-deserved whack on the head. The umbrella whisked through the air as she swung it down, missing the permed-white head by merely inches. Gintoki could feel the wind swoosh past as the metal ferrule cut effortlessly through the air, and an invisible hand of force shoved him forward as the umbrella smashed into the ground. Kagura had employed so much strength into the blow it had shattered the concrete underfoot, and shards of broken road scattered in all directions as Gintoki sailed through the air and hit the ground with a thud.
"Give my money back! It is not yours to take, yes?" Kagura demanded, fuming. She had just wandered into the snack store she commonly frequented moments before, exhilarated at the thought of consuming sukonbu – but her daydreams shattered like popped bubbles when she realized the sudden vacancy of her once money-occupied pocket. It had taken precisely 2 seconds to deduce what had happened to her hard-earned cash, especially when the whole fiasco with the kid with the white hair was still fresh in her mind. Steam practically poured out of her ears as she approached the felled child, who scrambled to his feet as she neared. His carnelian red eyes widened at the crater she had blasted into the earth.
"You could've split my head open!" Gintoki spluttered out, aghast.
"That is the point, yes?" Kagura retorted, raising her umbrella for another go at the irritating child. Her cerulean eyes blazed with anger so palpable, Gintoki could feel it emanating off her in waves.
"W-wait! WAAAAAIT! I-I'm just a kid; can't you have mercy on a kid?" Gintoki stammered out, gesturing to himself in overdramatic hand-gestures. His usually impassive red eyes had gotten as large as dinner plates. Kagura narrowed her blue orbs at him, speculating, before swinging down the umbrella with significantly less force. The downward smash pummeled through the ground just inches from his feet, shattering the asphalt in splintering cracks. Gintoki winced, then proceeded to scramble backwards slightly from the dangerous woman with the odd weapon preference. (Honestly, umbrellas? He could think of way cooler things)
"Give me back my sukonbu money," Kagura hissed, completely pissed that the child had thieved off cash of such importance. (Her sukonbu snack times were very precious, mind you) Seeing no other choice, the white-haired child fumbled through the pockets of his yukata, fetching out several crumpled bills. Kagura snatched the money from his hand, her eyes still carrying plenty of the venom her anger had evoked. Still slightly distrustful of the perm-haired child, she began counting the amount of money he had pressed into her open palm.
"Hold on a second, this is not all of it, yes?" Kagura turned to the child. "Where is the rest of i-"
Her eyes locked onto the vacant spot where Gintoki had been sitting just moments prior. Lifting her gaze slightly, she met sight of the silver-haired boy scurrying down the alley with heightened vigor, scrambling to put as much distance between himself and the scary umbrella-wielding lady.
Which wasn't very far, as Kagura easily managed to catch up with him the second time and crack her umbrella across his head.
ooOOOoo
Kagura warily watched Gintoki stumble out of the snack store, a defeated look prominent in his Bordeaux-colored eyes. The vermillion-haired lady grinned smugly at the sight of the crushed expression, and the welt that jutted out in a pronounced fashion from his unruly silver hair. He shuffled towards her and reproachfully pressed a huge amount of sukonbu packets into the woman's open palm, cross that the cost of his little act of thievery was being forced to buy ridiculous sour treats for a gorilla of a woman with his own cash. He could literally see the chances of buying delicious sweets and candies go down the drain.
"I still think you should buy more, yes?" Kagura murmured, inspecting the packets of sour treats to insure they hadn't been tweaked in any way. She tapped a finger on the handle of her parasol, implying that, if refused, she wouldn't hesitate to resort to harmful methods – and considering the emptying wallet and the ridiculously painful bruise on his head, Gintoki was plenty harmed enough.
"Whaaaat?" Gintoki's jaw hung open in disbelief. "You're gonna bleed me dry! Have pity on this poor kid, will ya?"
Her cerulean eyes narrowed, and she tapped the metal tip of her umbrella upon the ground in a threatening gesture.
Gintoki grumbled and retreated to the store, returning moments later with more packets and an even more disdainful look on his face. Fortunately for him, Kagura's anger and distrust seemed to be subsiding, and as she counted the ridiculous amount of sukonbu in her hands, her expression had converted from sullen to almost joyous.
"Okay; the queen of Kabukicho has decided," Kagura loftily informed him, slinging her purple parasol over a shoulder. Gintoki wanted to scoff at the self-proclaimed name, but considering that she was still very much able to crack open his head as easily as she had done the pavement, he decided to keep all manner of such actions to himself.
"You may leave now," Kagura jabbed the ferrule in the opposite direction, gesturing that he should continue on his merry path before more harm could be inflicted on his wallet, figuratively speaking, or his body, literally speaking. Gintoki's shoulders slumped in defeat, probably still upset about his spent wallet, and shuffled off, running his fingers through his messy clump of hair. Kagura watched him go impassively, and as soon as he was out of eyeshot she allowed her imposing composure to slip and gazed affectionately down at the packets upon packets of sukonbu nestled in her pale hands – and the best part was, all of them were free.
Yup, today was a good day.